First images emerge of Obama library

With its tasteful profile, it looks organic, even with a centerpiece that resembles an upended pair of pyramids. It almost assuredly won't spark the controversy the futuristic Lucas Museum plans did.

But former President Barack Obama says the fairly quiet exterior for his Obama Presidential Center belies the exciting things that will go on within. He wants it to be a global center where world leaders can meet, and where the next generation of leaders can train. He sees it as an economic engine for the South Side, creating 1,400 to 1,500 jobs during construction, about 200 permanent jobs at the center, and several thousand jobs in the community. He wants it to be a community center with a new field house and perhaps a Chicago Public Library branch. He envisions a film studio, where Spike Lee and Steven Spielberg can teach seminars to budding filmmakers.

Obama also envisions a street plan that closes Cornell Avenue, which runs through Jackson Park. Though such a move would likely anger motorists who use it to get to the Chicago Skyway, South Lake Shore Drive and Stony Island Boulevard, he said initial consults with the city show that closing the road would slow South Side car commutes by only one to three minutes.

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Former President Barack Obama at the South Shore Cultural Center today.

While the presidential center campus won't open for four years, programming will begin this year, the former president told a crowd of about 500 at South Shore Cultural Center this afternoon, where models and renderings were unveiled. Obama underlined his love for the city's South Side. “The most important things in my life happened in this community,” he says.

Obama, accompanied by his wife, Michelle, said little in his prepared remarks about the physical aspects of the multi-building campus of some 225,000 square feet. The campus is dominated by green space and a tall building that resembles a sawed-off pyramid, which will house a museum of presidential artifacts and more. “You all want to see Michelle's dresses, right?” Obama joked.

In a more serious tone, Obama noted the city's worldwide reputation for violence, and said he and Michelle Obama are donating $2 million to the city's summer jobs programs.

The center will include classrooms, outdoor spaces and labs. In a press release accompanying the release of renderings, officials said the center is "envisioned as a campus in a public park to honor the legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux and restore the potential of Jackson Park for the South Side.” The architects for the presidential center are wife-and-husband team Billie Tsien and Tod Williams, who are based in New York.

The center will be divided into three structures including the museum, forum and library. They form a central public plaza and will be connected underground.

At least one group opposes the plan to build in Jackson Park. In January 2015, Landmarks Illinois issued a resolution stating that the park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and said it believes “there are alternative sites in Chicago that would accommodate an innovative, world-class design” for the library without locating it in a historic park.

Reaction to the proposed design from the community was mostly positive, however. “It's monumental, and looks like it will fit in with the park,” says Zurich Esposito, executive vice president at AIA Chicago. “It also looks like it will be made of good quality materials.” The building will be built of a light-colored stone, but no more details were announced.

For Bob O'Neill, president of Grant Park Conservancy, “the most important thing is how it fits into a park setting,” he says. “Chicago's urban forestry is in steep decline, so anything we can do helps, and this plan is incredibly sensitive to that. What it's creating is a 'museum campus south,' because there's a synergy with the Museum of Science and Industry,” he adds. “The different buildings and the green roofs allows for it to be spread out into the park so we can get more green, and it's less intrusive that a mass of a building. I also like the idea of mixing traditional materials with a modern design, it's more pleasing to a lot of different tastes.”

Though he said it's hard to comment given the few details available, Tom Kerwin, principal at BKL architecture firm in Chicago, says it looks “compelling. It's nice to have a vertical presence that can create more of a landmark,” he says. “The lower part seems to embrace the park and is punctuated by this vertical piece that looks like a very interesting form.” The architects, he adds, are “very talented and execute buildings beautifully. "

It is not clear when the center, which will be built in the northwest corner of Jackson Park, south of the Museum of Science and Industry and which will hold Obama's presidential papers, will open. Also unclear is how much the Obama Foundation has to fundraise to open the center or whether the design presented today will be the design that is actually built. “The basic concept is not fixed,” Obama says. “We want input to get it just right.”

The meeting, the first of what Obama says will be many to solicit that input, was by invitation only. Leslie Hairston, 5th Ward alderman, contributed remarks and so did Mayor Rahm Emanuel. During his time as president, Obama “never lost touch with Chicago and Chicago never lost touch with him,” Emanuel said. Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx, John Cullerton, president of the Illinois senate, and former Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett also attended the meeting.